Principal Investigator(s):Reif, Karlheinz, Commission of the European Communities; Cunningham, George, Commission of the European Communities

Summary:

The second round of Central and Eastern Euro-Barometer
Surveys was carried out in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and European Russia. It
assessed Central and Eastern Europeans' awareness of and attitudes
toward the European Community (EC) and its programs and activities. In
addition, the survey asked respondents to give opinions on a number of
issues of importance to all European nations. It also explored
citizens' reacti... (more info)

The second round of Central and Eastern Euro-Barometer
Surveys was carried out in Albania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and European Russia. It
assessed Central and Eastern Europeans' awareness of and attitudes
toward the European Community (EC) and its programs and activities. In
addition, the survey asked respondents to give opinions on a number of
issues of importance to all European nations. It also explored
citizens' reactions to the political and economic reforms occurring in
their own countries. Respondents were asked whether things in general
were going in the right or wrong direction in their country, and
whether economic reforms and privatization were occurring too fast or
too slowly. Other questions probed for how well individuals felt their
country's economy and their own finances had fared over the past year,
and how well they would fare over the coming year. Opinions were
sought on whether the establishment of a free market economy was right
or wrong. The survey asked respondents how satisfied they were with
the development of democracy in their country, and whether they
intended to vote in the next general election. It also elicited
opinions on the degree of respect for human rights in the respondent's
country. Other questions asked how frequently respondents thought of
themselves as European, and whether they had considered going to work
in a country in Western Europe. A series of items focused on general
usage of television, radio, and newspapers, and on trust in various
forms of information media, including broadcasts from the
West. Several country-specific questions were asked about sources of
information on the European Community. Respondents were also asked to
indicate how aware they were of, and how interested in, the European
Community and its activities and institutions, and to rate how
positively they regarded the EC and the prospect of their country's
membership in it. Participants were also asked about how the economy,
government, and private citizens might be advantaged or disadvantaged
by the country's increasing ties with the EC. Opinions were sought on
the fairness of the Community's and other countries' trade and
assistance policies, especially the PHARE assistance program for
Central and Eastern Europe, and EC aid requested by the former Soviet
Union. Respondents were asked to rate the usefulness of EC initiatives
in Yugoslavia and its republics if they were aware of them.
Respondents' views were also obtained on the break-up of the Soviet
republics. Demographic data collected on each participant included
age, education, occupation, religion, ethnic background,
mother-tongue, citizenship, union membership, left/right political
placement, sex, and income. A brief section, not asked in Albania,
obtained data on lifestyle characteristics, such as household
appliances and machines, recreation and hobby activities, and
optimistic or pessimistic attitudes.

(1) Yugoslavia was not included in this survey due to
the outbreak of hostilities prior to the commencement of
fieldwork. (2) Data processing for this collection was performed at
the Zentralarchiv fur Empirische Sozialforschung in Cologne, Germany.

Methodology

Sample:
Multistage national probability samples, except in Hungary,
where a national stratified quota sampling technique was employed.

Mode of Data Collection:
face-to-face interview

Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of
disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major
statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to
these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:

Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.

Version(s)

Original ICPSR Release:1995-01-20

Version History:

2005-04-29 This data collection has been
reformatted and updated in conformance with current Eurobarometer
processing standards. Many variable names, variable labels, and value
labels have been revised to current naming conventions. Some combined
variables have been broken out into several variables. Revised SAS and
SPSS setup files and an updated documentation file are now available
as well.